WSJ reports big layoffs at BlackBerry

The Wall Street Journal just reported that BlackBerry could be laying off up to 40% of staff. This information, reported by Will Connors, who follows the company very closely, comes from people “familiar with the matter”. Just to make sure this is clear, all this means is that the sources do not want to be described or named. If it was only one source, they would probably not have gone out with the story, so I think it’s safe to say they have multiple sources.

Information like this can be wrong, but it wouldn’t surprise me if BlackBerry was planning a steep round of cuts. We have to remember that this is still a company adapting from one that is build around BBOS to one build around QNX. The developer tools are different. The programming language is different. The skills required by employees are different. The sales volume is drastically different (unfortunately) and even the NOC is used differently than before. Things are changing, and it’s certainly logical to do as many cuts as possible. Especially when you are bound to be losing so much service revenue as the customer base either leaves you, or turns onto BlackBerry 10 which doesn’t generate nearly the same service revenue (if any).

Right now the company seems to be unwilling to comment on any details around this story. A company spokesperson told the WSJ, “Organizational moves will continue to occur to ensure we have the right people in the right roles to drive new opportunities in mobile computing.” I think people will interpret this as a soft admission that the story is largely accurate.

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WSJ reports big layoffs at BlackBerry

I don't understand why people say BlackBerry is in such bad shape. They have tons in the bank, keep releasing new products, and are making enough to break even. I mean they aren't growing but you gotta give it time. Preferably over 6 months haha

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Blackberry...its sad to read all negative stories all the time. But blackberry management to be blamed for this. Slow and no innovation no fresh ideas all contributed to this. Don't blame the sales, because consumer's confident of the company is too lost. BB10 took so long to come to market and had lot of bugs, they had to tweet and it was a slow pain too. BB10 went out of tradition BB operation when they were launched. BB did not support outlook sync, Data compressing is not there in BB10,BB 10 did not feel its a unique from other phones. So consumers had choice and variety in the market, and BB10 couldn't stand out . Yes we can say its BB operating system is best. But for common costumer base did not see that.To win back thay have to be unique with what they did with BBOS.... get back to work and make something unique to BB10. And make a finish product.

I logged on to my Linkedin Account for the first time in ages today, spotted lots of Jobs being advertised in BlackBerry. Did some further digging and went onto the BlackBerry site.http://uk.blackberry.com/company/careers/search-opportunities.html - so whilst there are reports of job cuts, there are clearly jobs being advertised.

Or they may just be taking essential action to keep the company afloat. I'm not sure every time a company lays off employees it's being readied for a sale. Otherwise they'd have sold the company last year after 5000 employees were laid off.

Quite why anyone thinks a sale of the type generally implied (i.e. to a major tech player) is a good thing is beyond me. It probably means the death of BlackBerry.

The only way they stay alive is to go private. They can't remain a public company and suffer constant scrutiny while the media destroys their business reputation.

It may even be too late now to save it from lack of customer confidence.

What if they're getting rid of the old expensive people and hiring cheaper, fresh college graduates to get the ball rolling on accomplishing the task of getting this stuff promoted and updated.

The marketing is abysmal at best, they could lay off the whole marketing team and be in the same boat as they are now. Get some younger kids in there and hire them for half of what the old veterans make, and see where it goes.

Unfortunately, I have been in the position of reducing staff by more than 40%. THERE IS NO WAY TO KEEP SUCH AN ACTION SECRET. The news spreads at internet speeds, BBM speeds - duh. If we're hearing this from a single, or couple of connected sources, ONLY, I'd not take the numbers too seriously.

The huge number (2 of 5 people, really?) may be a long term projection that has been discussed. I'd be surprised if every possible scenario hasn't been listed somewhere within BlackBerry.

There is NO doubt that people will lose jobs in the restructuring of BlackBerry. For them, the loss will be a personal set-back. Conversely, others will be hired. The is part of a healthy company renewal.

In respect to timing, I'm less sanguine. It seems to me that there are people - not conspiracies - that look to attack BlackBerry for whatever personal reason. I am just suspicious of the coincidence of timing. Like many others, I am dismayed that this spurious "news" knocked the good and real Z30 & cross-platform BBM news out of the picture.

Decisions to lay off thousands of employees are taken at very senior level. And it's quite straightforward to keep such action secret.

Only as the time comes to implement is such action made public, and generally by a public announcement and to employees first. At that point, as middle management is asked to identify staff to lay off, the information could leak out, however more than likely the announcement would already have been made (as has been the case in earlier major lay offs at BlackBerry).

To do otherwise is illegal in a public corporation, since it would allow insiders to trade the stock.

READ THE WSJ ARTICLE. Use your Z10 browser. The article is fair, balanced, discusses Hein's cost cutting measures and even reports on the Z30 release. The Globe and Mail article seems more critical. The Globe also points out the BlackBerry release coincided with the release date of apples new operating system and on the date Apple permitted the release of 5s reviews. BAD TIMING BlackBerry!

BlackBerry is still hiring!! They, as pointed out, are transitioning to different skill sets than was the case several years ago. I do not view the cuts as a negative for BlackBerry to move strategically and efficiently .

There are always layoffs in company A or company B if you read newspaper daily. It's weird nobody emphasized when HP had a few thousands layoff not long ago. Think about that 'business is business' - employers want to cut expenses and they cannot please every employee and keep each one on payroll. Telecom and hi-tech jobs are hot but employees have to equip themselves for all the NEW challenges.

I have just read a short note (comment) on Globe & Mail that 40% of layoff is for the playbook repair department. WSJ has edited the news.

It's not unusual for a company that's about to go private to trim the workforce before talks get serious. New owners will likely want to focus on rationalizing the product set and improving the go to market strategy. BlackBerry is just getting a jump on it to make the company more attractive to buyers. This is not a harbinger of doom. Lots of companies survive and thrive after being acquired by private equity.

So I guess the Z30 was supposed to soften this particularly painful upcoming hit!? I also love how the article is trying to justify 5,000 people potentially loosing their jobs...NOTHING about this is alright! Why isn't top management making any sacrifices? Why isn't Thorsten Heins Ketchup and his acolytes loosing their jobs...oh I forgot...they don't really give a shit if they do or not! Given the golden parachutes guaranteed to top management, they'll probably end up richer if the company goes kaput and all the rank and file employees get squeezed out.

They keep talking about this being the "second stage" in their transformation process...really? They will transform themselves right out if business. Its always the same story, the people at the top screw up and those at the bottom are left to pick up the dog turds!

It would be silly and naive to think this story was anything but a deliberate attack on Blackberry. What the motivation of the WSJ reporters and editors is harder to guess. Money is the most likely motivation -- either directly or in terms of access to favored companies.

The sad part is how effective this tactic was. It's the leading story on most general news sites -- somehow, BB's best product delivery period in years was simply wiped off the earth. Amazing. Somebody is grinning ear to ear right now.

Really. I mean really. They launched in the power house of Malaysia! Most in the USA think BlackBerry is long gone. I guess there will be many eating their words when the punk slips fall like confetti . The business media owes BlackBerry positive coverage - why? The company is losing money. They have to increase revenues - sell more or cut expenses - like staff or they are gone! Yo.

Only the BlackBerry board knows when and if cuts will be made, and they are required by law to announce a change of this magnitude IMMEDIATELY the decision is finalised.

So does the article give you any indication of when this information was received by WSJ?

When the BlackBerry board announced a potential sale in August, they will have already made provisional plans for cost cutting measure as part of their planning process. As do all businesses in transition.

One thing is certain, this story didn't come from BlackBerry. It may have come from someone involved in negotiations over the past year or so.

But what happens if Verizon pick up the Z30, push it like crazy, and the device sells in the millions? All of a sudden the plans do not need to be implemented and the jobs are saved or the cuts minimised.

The story as reported is untrue because nothing has been announced.

All WSJ did was report hearsay from "people familiar with the matter". And the rest is history. Smacks of stock manipulation to me.

As I've said elsewhere, this story may ultimately be realised. The key question is why they broke the story yesterday.

BlackBerry shares are listed in the U.S. and Canada where the regulations are, respectively: "A listed company is required to make immediate public disclosure of all material information concerning its affairs, except in unusual circumstances" and "Upon the occurrence of a material change, a reporting issuer must immediately issue and file a news release"

Laying off 40% of your staff is material. No news release by BlackBerry means it isn't true.

Again was huge logical leaps. The prior story was correct apparently. BlackBerry confirmed it. The company has publically indicated it is transforming it's business. They do not have to disclose intent. Intent is not a material fact. When the punk slips are handed out- then the information will be disclosed.

"Whenever a listed company becomes aware of a rumor or report, true of false, that contains information that is likely to have, or has had, an effect on the trading in its securities, or would be likely to have a bearing on investment decisions, the company is required to publicly clarify the rumor or report as promptly as possible."

Do you think that BlackBerry's comment clarified that there will be a material change in staffing levels or that they will continue to adapt as all businesses should do?

I am not a securities lawyer. However BlackBerry will continue to lay off staff. They don't have a choice. Revenues must increase or expenses must fall. I am confident BlackBerry will do all that is legally required. I guess we watch the story develop or their "transformation phase 1 and 2 take this into account and there is nothing to clarify- because it is, in its essence true!

Just have a quick read of the article. Just Google" WSJ blackberry layoffs". You don't need the subscription. I think it is fair balanced and accurate. But after you read it then see if you still think the same.

Most of what Will Connors wrote has been repeated endlessly on other blogs. I really don't care about the content. His headline was enough to know his intent.

Some scoop. Obviously a company in trouble is going to lay off employees. He just chose to write the article on what was otherwise a good news day for BBRY and cause a downturn in the stock.

I live in the Waterloo area. I don't need to read Will Connors article to know what is happening at BBRY. I can ask my neighbours.

Several of whom are now panicking unnecessarily over the nonsense this guy wrote.

Why do it yesterday? You seem to be intent to ignore this important point. I don't believe for one moment that either he or his sources didn't have this information earlier.

Clearly Mr Connors doesn't give two hoots for BlackBerry or its employees and is happy to write an unsubstantiated article as long as it knocks the company. As a Murdoch flunky I'm sure that gets him a gold star.

The "lamestream" media has it out for BlackBerry? Apple is destroying BlackBerry? Android is full of crapware and security holes, why would anyone use an Android phone over a Z10 or or Q10? The WSJ, NYT, Verge (insert any news source here) is biased against BlackBerry? Really? All of this useless bickering and paranoia and you people are wondering why no one is using your beloved phones that you seemed to have inexorably assimilated with your own self-worth and esteem? I think all of you could use a reminder as to how BlackBerry arrived to this point in its ultimate demise.

-- "As nice as the Apple iPhone is, it poses a real challenge to its users. Try typing a web key on a touchscreen on an Apple iPhone, that's a real challenge. You cannot see what you type." – Balsillie, November 2007.

-- "[Apple and the iPhone is] kind of one more entrant into an already very busy space with lots of choice for consumers … But in terms of a sort of a sea-change for BlackBerry, I would think that's overstating it."– Balsillie, February 2007.

-- "Again, I have said this before and I will say it again; Apple has done the industry an enormous favour because they basically told the world to expect a media player [the iPod] as a software feature on a good smartphone. As the leading smartphone appliance company and platform company, we could not buy that kind of validation for $100m."– Balsillie, April 2007.

-- "But I think what happened was the amount of marketing and the attention (Apple) generated in the market--the customers are now coming to the store and saying I didn't know you could do all that with a phone. And when they get there they realize there's a selection--there's not just one device. And so what it's actually done is increased our sales." Lazaridis in 2008

-- "There may be 300,000 apps for the iPhone and iPad, but the only app you really need is the browser. You don't need an app for the web ... You don't need to go through some kind of SDK ... You can use your web tools ... And you can publish your apps to the BlackBerry without writing any native code." Balsillie, November 2010.

- "I'll think you'll just be amazed that how it's a quantum leap over anything that's out there." Balsillie on BBOS 6

-- "The most exciting mobile trend is full Qwerty keyboards. I'm sorry, it really is. I'm not making this up." Lazaridis, May 2008.

And ..... finally .........................

-- "At the very core of RIM – at its DNA – is the innovation. We always think ahead. We always think forward. We sometimes think the unthinkable." Thorsten Heins

Also, circa 2007, any number of bankers, elite economists, and US Congressmen: "The housing market is just fine, in fact it's better than ever and there is nothing to worry about."

Blackberry's past mistakes at the top are well understood. But let's not imagine that Apple or the spying empire known as Google will go on forever with no slumps. Humans might be extinct tomorrow for all we know. So cheer up!!

Most of the quotes above made sense at the time and some still hold up today so don't be too smug just because you can cherry pick with the advantage of hindsight.

"Cameraphones will be rejected by corporate users." (2003) Cameraphones in 2003 were junk. No corporations embraced that technology. In fact, even with the advances in camera technology over the past decade I think it is safe to say that the existence of a camera is way down the list of priorities from a corporate IT department's perspective.

"Try typing a web key on a touchscreen on an Apple iPhone, that's a real challenge." (2007) Do you really dispute this?

"And so what it's actually done is increased our sales." (2008) Look it up. BlackBerry sales were higher in 2008 then in 2007 when the iPhone came out. And BlackBerry sales are FAR higher today than in 2008. So... true!

So, despite many of the quotes being reasonable you have chosen to present them with a decidedly negative bias. Please explain again how "BlackBerry arrived to this point in its ultimate demise."

I think the pattern is very clear. It's not cherry picking when the quotes are indicative of a pattern of misreading the consumer and industry. I think they continue to be guilty of this. Heins said BlackBerry owns the keyboard market. Owned may be more accurate- show me the abysmal q10 sales.

Pattern? Do you understand the concept of data mining? Confirmation bias? The pattern I see is one of having opinions about the future that made sense at the time, many of which have proven to be true while other time the crystal ball didn't work as well. Does Heins' claim of owning the keyboard market really fit your "pattern"? Honestly, if BlackBerry doesn't own the keyboard market then please show me the new owner.

Let's see, market share is roughly flat (see my comments elsewhere above), the share price is determined by the stock market not by BlackBerry so the fact that it is up sharply over the past year is pretty well irrelevant, and BB10 products are in their first year so there is no reference to trace a trajectory. I'm not sure what you're on about but I guess whatever "pattern" you see supports a pre-existing notion you have.

"Pattern? Do you understand the concept of data mining? Confirmation bias?"
What the hell does that have to do with the reasons for BlackBerry's failure? Nada! Stay on topic

"Honestly, if BlackBerry doesn't own the keyboard market then please show me the new owner."
No one, and I mean NO ONE is disputing that BlackBerry owns the smartphone keyboard market. How's that working out for BlackBerry by the way? Oh yeah. Right.

"Most of the quotes above made sense at the time and some still hold up today so don't be too smug just because you can cherry pick with the advantage of hindsight."
So instead you pick the cherries off of the ground that I already picked off of the rotten tree and add your useless comments? Nice.

"And so what it's actually done is increased our sales." (2008) Look it up. BlackBerry sales were higher in 2008 then in 2007 when the iPhone came out. And BlackBerry sales are FAR higher today than in 2008. So... true!
Yep, that was true in 2008. How's that working out for BlackBerry now in 2013? Which means that comment was incredibly short sighted and nothing but excuse making for not responding to competition. So is it reasonable to brag about about short term market blips or to take an honest assessment of your competition's strengths and respond to them? Looks like everyone knows the answer now. Everyone except you!

""Try typing a web key on a touchscreen on an Apple iPhone, that's a real challenge." (2007) Do you really dispute this?"
Yep, that pain of typing a web key on a touchscreen has sure put a dent in those Apple and Android sales. Garsh dang those super long webkeys. Thank goodness BlackBerry has addressed this very narrow problem, it's really helped them in the marketplace,huh?

"Cameraphones will be rejected by corporate users." (2003) Cameraphones in 2003 were junk. No corporations embraced that technology. In fact, even with the advances in camera technology over the past decade I think it is safe to say that the existence of a camera is way down the list of priorities from a corporate IT department's perspective.
Actually, if corporate sales were all that mattered, BlackBerry would be in a much different position. But there's been this little nagging problem, sales of consumer smartphones have overtaken corporate sales. Frankly, who gives a $h!t what the priorities of an IT department's perspective are? What works in the consumer market now drives what happens in the enterprise market. Any cretin with an above 80 IQ can see market tipping point has long passed. Except you!

Take a deep breath. Do yourself a favour. Try to tune out what you have heard other people say for a minute and - with fresh eyes, free of emotion - do your best to separate the opinions from the facts. Appreciate that "fail" is just a point of view when there is no set benchmark. Understand that just because someone does well doesn't mean you can't do well too. Realize that trying to make someone look bad doesn't make you look any better. Repeat after me: Just because Apple and Android have done well does not make BlackBerry a loser. I will say it again because this is a fact: BlackBerry's sales are FAR higher today than they were in 2008. Take it in. Hold it. And breathe out.

Nobody with any sense will dispute that BlackBerry has done a lot to put itself where it is. Would you dispute that the timing of this story is damaging to the company, though? Because it isn't the first time the WSJ has published a vague story about how "doomed" BB is, right around the time the company planned to release good news.

No. it is often the case that series of stories are run together. Check the headlines and usually there are several related or tangential stories. The WSJ is one of the most respected news papers in North America. I am confident they font have it out for BlackBerry.

Yeah. I get 12 free phones every time I say something negative about BlackBerry. This us why Samsung a market share is enormous - it gives away millions of free phones . It has nothing to do with mediocre products. It's not the WSJ's fault that BlackBerry is laying off staff. The writer clearly wants more free phones from Samsung.

I agree the timing of this article, which may accurate is writers taking another jab at blackberry. Funny how the wsj doesn't care to mention that in Malaysia blackberry enrollment is up 300% ya that's right 300%! That's the good news today along with the launch of the great Zed 30! But that's how manipulating writers roll it's really too bad.

What a wonderful day in the news. We didn't get to see the new Z30 announcement (not even held on this continent), we were instead treated to 5 minutes of live eye reaction to the WSJ report of layoffs at BlackBerry. What brilliance in taking this strategic direction, the focus was completely shifted away from the new hardware, thereby reducing strain on your sales dept. May we request that the first of the 40% reduction begin in the Marketing and Strategic Planning departments? That is if there is anyone even left there....

Okay I've been laughed at so many times by now I just don't care. There has been a concerted effort to besmirch and discredit BlackBerry on the part of tech journalists since the original iPhone launched. Maybe it was that embarrassing scene when Lazaridis walked out of the interview, or some other behind-the-scenes episode, but they genuinely enjoy trashing BlackBerry. And it's not like there's any point to it; Apple is clearly dominant and Android is the only real challenger. BlackBerry will never be number one, but they still have fans and the market has plenty of room for more than two platforms. So why is it so important to the tech press to go after BlackBerry, unless it's a personal vendetta?

Going from development to production is a big deal and expensive. Plus, there are commitments made.
Many companies develop products but do not take them to market because they will not be profitable.
Why commit to new production if you are going to sell or get rid of that portion of your business.
Are you saying this is some new idea that just came up in the last month?

I remember not long ago how positive the forums were, how much love and faith we all had for our beloved BlackBerry. Now at the first signs of change ( we don't know if this will be positive or negative yet) everyone is turning on each other. All this bashing Thor will accomplish what? I full heartedly agree with others that this OS is still in its infancy, and we have a long road ahead of us still. If there was anytime we needed to remain positive it's now, if there was anytime we needed to stand together it's now. I really enjoy our forum members opinions and have learned a lot from all of you, I love how passionate some of you are and am saddened to see that diminishing.
Bring Back the Passion my friends.

*addendum : You will know by then whether or not you want to commit to a new device.
But since BlackBerry feels comfortable enough to stay the course and release a DAMNED BRAND NEW SMARTPHONE - does it not stand to reason they more or less know they're not imminently getting out of the handset business? Even if they're about to be sold, surely their buyer comprehends the commitment involved to marketing and releasing a whole new device??

You haters on here (and clever intellectuals disguised as haters. Nietzsche would be proud of your power play) are, as usual, running at the mouth. Long live the power of the anonymous web 2.0 Internet, amen brothers!
A) there is reason to suspect the veracity of the story
B) if true, it might be quite reasonable and not bad for blackberry going forward, and
C) It's already come out that the committee is looking to resolve everything by November. So stop worrying, learn to love the bomb, and just hang tight already.

+1000 !!!!! The z10 smokes any iphone, imagine how awesome a z30 is!!!
On ios you can't even manage files with a file manager on the phone, that's a instant fail in my books and all the apps in the world for ios can't fix it

I wonder do the employees get big pay off like the top brass? Have to remember, it was the top brass who ran it into the ground!! And they get well compensated!! Shouldn't those who are the brains of putting the OS to a usable state not get paid well to when they are shown the door??

These seems to confirm the layoff of the sales staff that were "impacted " as was reported earlier. Not simply "relocated" as so many stated. Time for people to open their eyes and stop the derisive remarks about posters who suggest BlackBerry is struggling.

The earlier article was about people being relocated. BlackBerry had an actual media statement saying exactly that. Didn't stop me seeing articles the next day saying 60 people laid off and then quoting BlackBerry statement as they are being relocated to the US. Some didn't even quote that and ran with it anyway. This on the other hand may have some truth to it. Just stop mashing everything together in a vain attempt to prove something that is incorrect.

Crackberry are doing there JOB by reporting on current events with the disclaimer every now and then about where or whom they got the info from. The day that Crack Berry becomes a Positive ONLY BB site is the day it will begin it downward spiral . You have to keep both doors open otherwise you become one sided or one dimensional and that would be your own down fall.
As for CrackBerry doing there own research ? Rest assured, they do. Probably more then most other sites out there.

If hardware manufacturing is out the window (a likely scenario), then it is quite possible that BB has signed deals with other hardware manufacturers (maybe Sony, HTC, etc). There has been alot of dissatisfaction with the windows platform and it was pretty clear that Nokia was on the verge of dumping it before MS bought the company. Sony has also been quite dismissive of windows. By going with BB10, hardware companies get access to a secure platform and entry into a market that Apple and Google can't compete in. Interesting times ahead.

What a rediculous conclusion. I don't buy the whole concept that the Wall Street Enquirer has any "inside" information at all. They are pushing the bounds of fly-by-night reporting because in this day and age, there are no laws any more.

Over 50% of the bbry news circulating seems to be quotes from the Crackberry site. Reporting such news now on this site us only going to compound the poor effect this will have. Personally I want a z30, and will get one.

Ah NO, you could say that 365 / Yr every 10 mins at APPLE and you STILL would never make a dent to bring down the Company. That " Bring Down the Company mentality " was started a long while back by BB's Board , CEO and All the others involved . Has 0% to due with what the Media or Blog Sites say.
If you want to Vent and blame someone , blame BB's owners. No one else.

Same as others, timing of this story smells so bad. Shorter making use of the "media". An example of how former mainstream media are caught in the race for his and are susceptible to story plants or timing. Out of the many BlackBerry stories today, this is the one being emphasized by most media outlets. Even BNN television in Canada is running this as a top story. Hardly any mention of BBM going cross platform!!!

Way to rain on the party WSJ. On the day of a new device launch. I applaud you on your impecable timing.

Sarcasm aside, it could be true but 40% sounds exaggerated and it's probably only half the story. Last I checked BlackBerry was still hiring. So perhaps up to 40% of the staff are being transitioned to repostion the company for the future. This is the likely scenario.

Hate to see fellas lose their jobs - but BB has failed miserably at bringing an effective product (although they may have now with BB10) to market when BYOD is thriving at least in the U.S. I use the Q10 and it's an awesome phone. Love it. Do I even need to say it? Apps. There. I did. Make em' native if necessary - just get em here. I need three apps right now that are very business necessary: Bank of America, (not available), an HP-12C calulator app, and Salesforce.com (the CRM our company chose to use).

All WSJ-people: I hope you like the Huwawei mobiles the coming months and hopefully the rest of your lives! How is it possible to place such an article at this moment? Like your own company's instead bringing out this shit!

I'm really bothered by the other two ceos that took their eyes off the ball when they had their eyes on a puck. Maybe they should put trust fund together for these families . I hope that this news is fale

Too easy to play armchair CEO. The financial results for Q2 must be very bad. This should be expected. Not enough sales. High costs of launching 4 new phones. Running 3 or 4 operating systems. Not possible. Very unfortunate. But keep moving. Get lean and price compete. Its still a great product .

After a few days of using my Z10 back in March I said, you know they really got a shot now. Then after seeing no marketing it was obvious. Kind of like buying the winning lottery ticket then going swimming in a rolling river with it in your pocket. WTF

This is disgusting and it is immoral to support BlackBerry when they are cutting people's jobs in such a way, while paying certain individuals millions for failure. It also sounds like they will no longer support BBOS or BIS, and if so the company deserves to die off. QNX is not inherently better than any other *nix-type OS.

You obviously don't know how to run a business. I'm not defending the payouts but you have to be able to breath employees in and out to survive in any business. Layoff notices don't tell anyone anything, there are just that many different reasons why they might be doing it, good and bad. And if you take this to its logical conclusion, you need to boycott pretty much everything

Again I site Ford laying off thousands of employees back in the early 2000's. They've since recovered and are doing great.

Think about how bad Ford's reputation was in the 90's and early 2000's.. "Found On Road Dead", "F****d On Race Day" FORD Backwards: Driver Returns On Foot.

Apply the same mentality to BBRY... they have along road ahead, but they can still do it.

******Please Note******: My personal opinions on Ford Motors do not reflect those of the masses of CrackBerry nor do I seek to offend any loyal customers of Ford. I've even had a number in my household. Just an example.

Holy crap, can this guy spin any kind of bad news into good news or what? I mean I know there are some news we should take with a grain of salt, but wow. BlackBerry is reportedly taking of another 40% of their staff after the reductions in the past 2years and which cost thousands of jobs and he still manages to portray a good picture for BlackBerry.

I believe we will be seeing a very different BlackBerry very soon, or worse just a BBM provider.

Sorry, but last "credible" news reported by Cantech then WSJ was pure ... speculation (weighting my words here). I believe many @ CB, either team or contributors have friends, family or even themselves working for BlackBerry. They would be my single trustable source. Until then, I'm waiting for measurable news, time scales and clearly exposed measures and won't give this more weight than the former. Near zero.

The WSJ is simply using information BlackBerry provides. The general tone here is that people are out to get BlackBerry. The company has been mismanaged for years. Let's not kill the messengers for the mess BlackBerry has created.

After reading all your comments I'd have to say it's some very pathetic things to say. Do yourself a favor and get a life. Stop getting your kicks off of others. People like you are known to have insecurity and no life at all. Go get a life your pathetic really.

Thanks, birdman.... and I could not be more serious.... this guy conned - whoever the hell interviewed him and us - that he know what he was doing in creating a better sales effort in the U. S. carriers.... I am here to tell you - there was a "better launch" at ATT for my Bold 9800 than anything I have seen under this clown...

Chris, I think you are giving too much credit to the WSJ. They along with the G&M certainly got the US sales force story wrong and that was just a few weeks ago. How many sources did they have on that one? It doesn't means that companies like BB aren't rationalizing their operations but this one just doesn't sound right. Further to the point, the US sales force story ran during a week that BB was making a series of forward looking announcements. Funny that, now the same week that BB makes another set of positive moves, another article with no listed sources just sort of appears out of nowhere.

Could BB be dividing into two separate companies, as previously suggested by many? Could BB be dumping its hardware division and partnering up with other smartphone makers? All of these moves could be easily misconstrued by an unwitting reporter as a cut in the work force? Certainly something is going on behind the scenes but much of it is speculation.

Chris, I think one has to be very careful when reading the tea leaves. There is nothing in BB statement about layoffs or that dreaded word "rationalization". "Right people in the right positions" sounds to me that BB continues to look at enhancing efficiency in their operations. Big moves like the one described in this article are usually telegraphic well ahead of time in less ambiguous language. Perhaps, there is a bigger move afoot that has yet to reveal itself.

I know a couple of people who are in the private equity business. And they know first-hand(the hard way) how to top brass will behave when they feel the ship is listing--they all want to make sure they get their payday, employees be darned. What BB is doing here reminds me of that. When you can no longer innovate, you push people through the meat grinder.

It's becoming harder and harder to support a company that is acting this way. Yes, these are rumors, but come on, these phones don't appear to be selling all that well since BB doesn't seem to know how to "gimmick" them up like Apple or Samsung.

You kidding me? It's a BRAND NEW OS nearly 7 months old.. you can't expect sales to be insane on such an infant platform.. look at how Microsoft has been doing.. they have had two years to prosper and they are just FINALLY getting some apps and beginning to prosper.. stop writing off BlackBerry like they failed when they have barely even had time to show themselves yet.. people don't seem to realize how infant their new OS still is and it simply takes time for that to change.. they have a very respectable amount of apps for how short of a time it's been so far.

Nope. This is false. BB10 is not a 'new OS'. RIM/BBRY were quite clear... the PBOS was the first QNX based OS and would be considered a trial of BB10 software in the wild.

In fact, many CB posters have been quite steadfast in their assessment of how the PBOS was an experiment to showcase the power of QNX, Cascades etc so that the software could be perfected for a phone / handheld device.

In fact, many of the apps I've purchased for my PB run 'as-is' on my z10. Without significant effort by the developer to have run on both devices.

So... the OS is 4 years old? That might be a more accurate assessment than 7 months. Clearly the BB10 OS is unfinished and not being adopted by consumers, developers and partners as the executive team had hoped. Likely because it is unfinished. Similar to how PBOS was NEVER finished. Or the famed SuperBowl commercial was never finished.

To think that the 4th place player in the smartphone space is somehow going to regain it's 1st place status (Yes, 1st place. A harsh ride these last 5 years) with unfinished products?. Well... that could be considered 'wanting your cake and eating it too'.

I think you misunderstand what BlackBerry does. They have a core target market that has remained relatively unchanged. It turns out that target market is a subset of the smartphone market, which is a subset of the mobile phone market. BlackBerry's share of the global mobile phone market has remained very consistent even if the makeup of that market has shifted. Don't kid yourself - BlackBerry is selling far more phones today then they were before the iPhone was launched.

Really? Could you point me to any data that suggests that BBRY market share of the global mobile phone market has remained consistent? Which, I'm assuming you think is ok regardless of how their competitors in this industry has largely eclipsed any previous market share held by BBRY as they both grew the entire business segment and converted many BBRY customers to their own platforms.

At any rate... the data... it would certainly help me understand how you'd make that assessment... nevermind understanding BBRY's business.

I have to let you do your own research on that but the numbers I have put BlackBerry selling 2.0% of the approximately 1.25 billion handsets in 2008 and about 2.0% of the approximately 1.63 billion handsets sold in 2012. Different sources will give you different numbers for the overall global mobile phone market (you can do a search to get some numbers from a variety of other sources) so your numbers may vary but the end result will be virtually identical.

And for what it's worth, in 2007 before the iPhone popularized smartphones BlackBerry had just under 1.0%.

Thanks for your opinion Chuckles but I made an assertion and provided data to support it. I assume you understand that industry data must be pieced together and in some cases those pieces must be inferred so is inherently proprietary and prone to some margin of error. So, yes, numbers can lie. Having said that, I believe my data is reasonably robust, particularly in the context of this discussion. Do you honestly believe my numbers are off base? I would be very curious to find out how you could possibly arrive at anything that is materially different. Since you have "lots of data from other sources" I wonder if there are any sources you are in a position to share so we can be on the same page for discussion purposes. All I'm asking for, really, is two numbers to compare with what I presented - total global handset sales for 2008 (the year of iPhone) and 2012 (the most recent year). BlackBerry's unit sales each year are public knowledge.

They are obviously letting go of the employees in their unpopular markets.
There are countries, which BB used to rule but not anymore. I guess they are going to become more like Apple; let the device sell itself.

They are going full ODM on Hardware. Most of their US workforce will be gone by Christmas, and cuts to Canada and Germany will be close behind, including likely their entire mfg plant in Waterloo. Doesn't really have as much to do with change from BBOS to BB10 as the last ~5000 person cut trimmed that workforce already. Remember they were 20k people in 2011, cut 10% down to 17.5k, then cut another 5k in 2012, and have "lost" a further 2000 employees voluntarily (or in smaller rounds that don't generate as much press - they just cut 200 ppl from mfg a couple months back).

Shit decision, but if all you care about are OPRX targets and COHS reduction, then "what is good for shareholders" may be different than "what is good for the company/ customers"

They will focus much more on SaaS for multi platform and wind down their HW to maybe 2-3 new handsets per year vs 6-8 like they have been doing past 5 yrs. Back in 2003/4/5 they were only 2000-3000 people globally and we're producing basically 2 new handsets a year. That is what a "niche" company does.

Given sales took a massive dip last quarter, ultimately cuts are inevitable.

The premium smartphone market in developed nations is saturated. And former growth areas such as India and China now have $100 Android phones so won't buy expensive BB7 devices.

Apple and BlackBerry are heading in the same direction, it's just that Apple has higher to fall.

In the end BB will settle at a niche level of say 4 to 6 million sales of high end smartphones a year manufactured in China or anywhere else with low labour costs. And they'll hopefully sell services and license the OS.

All they have to do is survive a few years by managing costs and cash, and their encryption patents will make them a fortune. For more information just google RSA and ECC.

It's like they don't want to see blackberry do good. With major announcements coming this morning. They just put this out to damper everything. Geesh I mean come on WSJ. At least wait till next week or the week after everything has settle down. Smh. Don't worry blackberry is in it for the long fight.

It's really sad to see all these blog site post things as quickly as possible and not verify stories before posting. I would have thought CrackBerry would have done better after the fake Samsung twitter post article.

The title of the article is "WSJ reports big layoffs at BlackBerry". The way to validate this post is to check to ensure that the WSJ did indeed report such a story. Crackberry.com can neither confirm nor deny the validity of the WSJ article. That's something that only BlackBerry can do. They're putting the info out to be discussed by BlackBerry fans.

This is part of normal re-structuring. Many company's layoff staff. What the wsj failed to mention is this 40% number accounts for total layoffs for the entire year IMO.
Anyhow take this as a positive and a strong will to accelerate BB10 adoption via re-structuring the company so it may run more efficient.

All the talk about BBRY not being around in the near future is complete rubbish and nonsense; all taken from un-named sources and here say comments. Seeking Alpha is one culprit that allows ridiculous opinionated articles to get published despite how Anti-BBRY they are presenting nothing but FACT-LESS information, and giving the perception that its facts. Most of them flat out LIE.

I'd like to say this is crazy, but given the dire circumstances the company is facing, not unexpected. It's sad because you take the heart and soul out of a company when you take action like this and end up with "9 to 5" staff who have no real emotional commitment to the company. This is another sad chapter in the Blackberry saga.....

You're putting a positive spin on the lay-off of 40% of the workforce due to skillset. What a load of horse manure. BB is where they are today because of gross mismanagement of a Canadian icon by the upper echelon, dwindling marketshare and as we know management will not suffer as they continue to drive this company to obscurity. Sad day for Canada and shame on you, how insensitive!

Management could be rich beyond their wildest dreams through stock options if BlackBerry is successful. The hell if they won't suffer, just instead of not being able to feed their family it could be not having that 3rd vacation home. But still, they give up a lot if BlackBerry bites the dirt.

BlackBerry employees wouldn't know about something like this until it was about to happen. Only a handful of senior execs would know about such a thing. And they're not likely to say anything for fear of being held accountable.

It's more likely that during negotiations with third parties cost cutting plans may have been discussed. Either way, it isn't actually true until the board decides it's true and as a public company they have to announce something as significant as this.

You know, I think you might be right. It would make sense to me if they transitioned to software only, like Google a few years ago. This would save huge costs and their hardware division is the biggest money loser. Focusing on the OS, MDM, BES, and BBM would make them a profitable company with a good future.

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